Oroville schools already have food regulations in place

OROVILLE &GT;&GT; Although a new set of federal standards for nutrition in schools took effect July 1, Oroville school officials said Monday they've already put the regulations into practice.

The new federal regulations, under the 2010 Healthy, Hungry-Free Kids Act, particularly apply to foods sold at schools and that are beyond the school meal programs.

However, both Oroville City Elementary School District and Oroville Union High School District food service directors indicated they're swimming in a sea of new rules set by both the state and federal governments.

Oroville Union High Food Services Director Paula Wakefield said in a telephone interview that the district had already implemented the regulations a year ago.

Some of the changes are minimal, but others are big.

For instance, foods containing grain products have to be 50-percent whole grain. OCESD Food Services Coordinator Paul Mabie said that regulation applies to tons of products.

Wakefield had to search high and low for a pizza that has a whole-grain base. She finally found one through Pizza Hut.

The rule has also affected the sale of chips and pretzels.

"It's just unreal," she said. "We get they're wanting them to eat healthy and nutritious, but, we also had to reduce sodium to really low amount for breakfast and lunch. OK. We're not going to sell pickles."

Wakefield also said they had to change to using a lower-sodium ketchup.

"It's been a real challenge, but we're ahead of the game in implementing these changes," she said.

Although she has already made sweeping changes, e-mails keep coming with updates, which she has to go through to make sure the district stays in compliance.

Wakefield said the new regulations are harder for small districts, who don't have the staff or time larger districts have.

Mabie said OCESD also had already implemented most regulations, and the only ala carte items sold on the campuses are water and Gatorade.

He also said there are many different kinds of programs.

"Not every district has all the same programs," he said. "You can't take a broad brush to say this is what it's like for every school district."

He said Oroville Elementary had already been going in the general direction of the regulations over the last few years.

One thing they did at OCESD was replace one bread serving during the day with a vegetable.

He said the new rules are definitely a lot of extra work.

"The food offered has to fall within guidelines," he said. "It can't be over so many grams of sugar, so many grams of fat and within a calorie range."

He wasn't certain how the rules might affect events at school that include refreshments, but said the district has policies and guidelines for teachers and for school events.

At the high school level, there's another challenge: Campuses are open, so students can leave and buy the foods they want off campus.

"They want soda," Wakefield said, "But they will stop by first and get their pizza."

As for the snack vending machines at the high schools, those are already stocked within the government guidelines.

Wakefield concluded that some of the changes will be a shock to students, but not really new.